Leading zero

A leading zero is any 0 digit that comes before the first nonzero digit in a number string in positional notation.^[1] For example, James Bond's famous identifier, 007, has two leading zeros.^[2] Any zeroes appearing to the left of the first non-zero digit (of any integer or decimal) do not affect its value, and can be omitted (or replaced with blanks) with no loss of information.^[3] Therefore, the usual decimal notation of integers does not use leading zeros except for the zero itself, which would be denoted as an empty string otherwise.^[4] However, in decimal fractions strictly between −1 and 1, the leading zeros digits between the decimal point and the first nonzero digit are necessary for conveying the magnitude of a number and cannot be omitted,^[1] while trailing zeros – zeros occurring after the decimal point and after the last nonzero digit – can be omitted without changing the meaning.